MarasSalt Mines and Moray with Chinchero

MarasSalt Mines and Moray with Chinchero

Pick up from the Train Station of Ollantaytambo. We'll get ready to our first visit of the day to Moray Terraces. Mostly consisting of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 100 meters deep. but their depth and orientation with respect to wind and sun creates a temperature difference. This large temperature difference was possibly used by the Inca to study different climatic conditions on crops. Moray was perhaps an Inca agricultural experiment station, it also got a sophisticated irrigation system. Continue our day visiting Maras Salt Mines. During the pre-Incas time, salt has been obtained in Maras by evaporating of salty water. The highly salty water has been flowing from this nearby stream for hundreds of years. As the salt water becomes supersaturated, salt crystals begin precipitating out of the water. The farmers then scrape the salt to the side and collect it once a sizable amount has been gathered. There are more than 3,000 salt-pools.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Centro Historico De Cusco, Cusco 08002 Peru

As the oldest living city in the Americas, Cusco has been inhabited continuously for over 3,000 years. It was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th to 16th century until Spanish conquest, and now is a major tourist destination.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Moray, Maras 08655 Peru

The platforms, built on retaining walls filled with fertile soil and irrigated by complex irrigation systems, allowed to cultivate more than 250 plant species. These platforms served as an Inca agricultural laboratory to experiment with their crops. Moray encloses history and landscape beauty.

Duration: 1 minute

Stop At: Salinas de Maras, Carreta a Maras Urubamba, Maras 00051 Peru

The Salinas de Maras in Cusco, or maras salt mines as they are also called, are salt mines whose exploitation is as old as the Tahuantinsuyo. Located on the slope of the hill, the salt pans in the form of terraces or platforms is crossed by a stream that feeds the pools with salty water.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Complejo Arqueologico Chinchero, Chinchero Peru

The colours of the rainbow can also be found throughout Chinchero textiles. The 40 adult weavers and 40 children of the community weaving association are masters in the textile art.

Duration: 40 minutes